10 historical French Open moments that will never be forgotten – Tennis Special (Part - II)
Underarm serve by Michael Chang in 1989
I guess no one remembers the final of the 1989’s edition of the French Open final. It was the 17-year-old American, Michael Chang, outfoxed the likes of the Stefan Edberg to claim his first ever Grand Slam championship title. However,
this was not the only highlight of the tournament. Obviously, he registered some mind-startling upsets throughout the event to make it to the finals. One of such upset was against the former world number one, Ivan Lendl.
It was the fourth round clash and Chang became the first ever player to beat a superstar serving underarm throughout the match. One of the observers placed the performance of the 17-year-old kid in following words, “He destroyed
the seemingly indestructible Ivan Lendl by serving underarm - Lendl's computer-like brain blew a bank of valves at the audacity of it all.” Chang himself stated, “A real spur of the moment thing” to win a match serving underarm.
This was another shocking event in the history of French Open and probably the only one of its kind because I have never seen someone serving underarm after that.
Andre Agassi’s hair drop in 1990
Former world number one, Andre Agassi, played his first ever Roland Garros French Open grand final in 1990 against the likes of Andres Gomez. However, for the first time in history, I witnessed someone giving more attention to
his wig than the game play at the red clay courts of Paris, France. Agassi was more concerned to keep his wig intact instead of holding on to his serves.
Bald headed players are in fashion these days but back in 1990’s it was considered to be an embarrassing feature of the body. In his autobiography, Agassi explained his experience of playing with a wig in the final as follows,
“With each leap, I imagine it falling into the sand. I imagine millions of spectators moving closer to their TV sets, their eyes widening and, in dozens of dialects and languages, asking how Andre Agassi's hair has fallen from his head."
A lot funny moments happen in the field of tennis but that was suicidal. What if someone had a Digital Single-Lens Reflex camera with him (although it was not invented) and took a closer shot of Agassi’s wig, that would have been
embarrassing and people would have completely forgotten about Agassi’s title if he had won it and start mocking him.
Sometimes these tennis professionals just don’t know what to do; they can’t handle the celebrity status to be honest!
Justine Henin earns two glorious moments in 2007
Justine Henin won the French Open title in 2007 but the biggest happy moment for her was reuniting with her family after seven long years. She was extremely happy to see her estranged father and three siblings back home and everyone
could see their glimpse in the player’s box when Henin was playing the final match. It must have given her an eternal calmness of mind. She confessed, “My family are back in my life, and that makes a big difference to me. It feels great, and I feel very peaceful."
It’s a pleasant moment in anyone’s life when they reunite with their beloved personalities again.
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